Up and coming social media and photo sharing site, Pinterest, get a new investor—Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten Inc. The former was able to raise $100 million in a funding round led by Rakuten.
This comes at a time when Pinterest is slowly but surely shaping up the face of Internet marketing services.
According to the report from the Internet Retailer, the fresh funds will help the fledgling but successful social media site expand globally into Japan and several other markets where Rakuten operates. Rakuten is also the owner of Buy.com. Other companies which Rakuten is involved in are Tradoria GmbH and Ikeda.
The article quoted Buy.com chief executive and president Neel Grover saying that there is a lot of “synergies between Pinterest and Rakuten’s companies.” He added that the pinboard-style photo sharing site can come in handy for all of Rakuten’s properties, one way or another.
Pinterest has been receiving a lot of attention lately, merely two years after it was launched by Cold Brew Labs Inc. If your Internet marketing service provider has not hooked you up on Pinterest, here’s a little background: it lets you “pin” things on the web—whether it’s a recipe or a photo. These are gathered in an online board which the user can share and organize. For online retailers and Internet marketing service providers, the value of Pinterest is in its ability to promote brands or products when users follow other shoppers who support a particular brand or product.
The report further adds that almost 18 million users visited Pinterest in February alone which is an impressive 52.1% improvement from the previous month. It really is one of the fastest growing social media sites today and it has been verified by reliable sources such as comScore Inc.
The key takeaway here? Keep your eyes glued on Pinterest. It is bound to get more exciting.